Maniac Mansion · Commodore 64 · 1987
A grimly comic optional interaction where a character can microwave the resident hamster, with lethal consequences if you then show the remains to its owner.
Maniac Mansion, the debut of LucasArts’ SCUMM adventure engine, let players combine objects with a freedom that produced genuinely dark comedy. One of the most infamous options: pick up Weird Ed’s pet hamster, put it in the kitchen microwave, and switch it on. The animal explodes, and the game lets you carry the guts back upstairs — if you show them to Weird Ed, he flies into a rage and kills whichever character delivered the news, ending that character’s run. The gag survived intact in the North American NES port, but once Nintendo noticed the depiction it was cut from the European release; the NES version at least recoloured the splatter blue rather than red. The sequence became early proof that games could carry a subversive sense of humour, and it is still cited as a defining LucasArts moment.
Have Syd or Razor pick up Weird Ed’s hamster, place it in the microwave in the kitchen, close the door and turn it on. (Showing the exploded hamster to Weird Ed will get your character killed.)